Thrill of the Hunt
by Quetou
Summary: BASED OFF MONSTER HUNTER TRI ONLINE: With Jared having a famed father with a mysterious back ground, Jared delves into the hunting world where he gains friends, scars, and whatever else his new life is throwing at him. FINALLY OFF HIATUS!
1. 1: Door to the Hunter Life

Yeah! I actually have my fourth story out now! Well, the beginning of it. We'll see how it turns out. What's interesting about this one, though, is that it's my first one _outside_ the Pokémon category. Enjoy.

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**Thrill of the Hunt

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Chapter 1: Door to the Hunter Life

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Jared - Age 16

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The sunlight burned Jared's closed eyelids as his sleeping form lay sprawled across the blanket covered sandbags.

He winced as the intensity of the light grew, eventually making him groan as he woke.

"Erghnnn... Oh, my back... Really need to change these to an actual bed," Jared sighed as he adjusted the dark brown hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.

Jared stood up and looked around the tiny, dusty room he had come to call home. He had been renting this dirty hut for two years. At first, Jared hated it. Now, looking around the room today, it seemed different. He had become attached to it. He stifled a small smile before setting his mind to what day it was.

Jared sighed before saying, "Well, today's my first day as a hunter..."

The young man took the small wooden bucket from beside the chest and poured the water it held onto his head, letting it wet his hair and run down his toned body.

Jared proceeded to go to the chamber pot behind the thin shade that divided the room in half and did his business. We'll let you guess the rest.

After finally getting ready for the day hygeine wise, Jared put on his leather clothes. _All_ of them being leather from the skin of Kelbi.

Jared sighed as the realization sunk in as to what today could hold in store. He stepped out into the harsh noon day sunlight on the dusty streets of Loc Loc.

His first steps as a hunter.

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So tell me what you guys think. Want me to continue? I've been playing Monster Hunter Tri game a lot lately, and it is my first game in the Monster Hunter series. I must say I'm loving it like none other. So yeah, I decided to write a fanfic of it. I'll do two more chapters to let you gets decide if I should continue this or not.


	2. 2: Day 1

Sorry this took so long to get to. Gosh, I haven't even updated my other fics or started the ones I plan to. But oh well. I need to do this.

Before I start this chapter, a few announcements:

1. I am taking requests for fics. So if you want me to do any fic, come to me and I'll get it done.

2. I am willing to do a co-fic if anyone is interested. Lol

3. This fic will be a little different than what people are used to if you play Monster Hunter Tri Online. So just be open minded. =p

Anyways, let's start, shall we?

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_Last Chapter:_

_Jared gets ready for the day he becomes a hunter._

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**Thrill of the Hunt**

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Chapter Two: Day 1

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Jared - Age 16

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Jared waved to Wade, the Guest House Honcho, and his pig, Tiny, as he strode down towards the exit of Lodge Street and to the City Center. There, Jared was supposed to meet the "Uppity Instructor" by the docking bay above the Combinator's and Captain Tool's shop.

The sixteen-year-old smiled to Monique, the Trading Post Lady, as most called her. She was, as usual, making deals with hunters on goods. This time, she was talking with a man in Rathalos armor. Jared knew the armor well... His father's old favorite armor.

Jared kept walking past the shop tunnel and onto the stairs. He heard several voices as he came nearer to the top. One was a woman's, delicate yet she spoke fiercely to man who had a deep, strong voice. Jared also heard two more additional voices. A man with a Jamaican accent and an older man's voice.

All chattering stopped as Jared stepped onto the last stair. He looked upon the four people who stood before him. Just as Jared expected, one was the instructor who had a stern look on his face.

"You're late," Gerald, the instructor, said to Jared. "Take a seat."

"Sir, I'm sorry, it was just fiv-"

Jared was cut off. "Make sure you're not late in helping an ally in a quest. A whole five minutes could cause a death." Gerald motioned to the bench beside him. "Now take a seat."

Jared decided speaking again could get him in major trouble. As he walked to the table, he quickly studied who would be joining him there. As he heard before, one was a muscular black man in his late teens, another being a girl with dark brown hair that fell to her shoulder blades, and the last being an old man with white hair that fell to his shoulders and his face being worn and aged.

"Jared, isn't it?" the elderly man stood and offered a hand to Jared. "Name's Ben."

Jared nodded and gladly shook the hand, smiling. At least he had some form of kindness given to him now. Ben sat down again, leaving Jared to fill the seat next to him.

"Now then," Gerald spoke again. "I'm here to teach you all how to use your weapon of choice today. Your overall training will take you a week."

"Yes sir!" Jared, the Jamaican, and the young woman spoke. Jared took a mental note that Ben didn't say a word. He just sat there, watching, his arms crossed.

"First off, Ben," Gerald motioned to the old man. "Explain to these three who you are."

Ben stood up and looked at the three young hunters. "I'm here to evaluate your skills and give advice on what weapon is best for you. Then I'll be finding your fourth and final companion for your team. They'll be joining your training tomorrow."

'Explains why he was so nice to me... He isn't going to be in the team...' Jared thought out in his head.

"Now then," the instructor spoke up again, bringing Jared's and everyone else's attention towards him. "Follow me to the Workshop and we'll be testing out your skills with every weapon."

The five stood from their benches and made their way to the melding fires of the Workshop. Jared began his descent down the stairs but was caught by the two other hunters from his future team.

"I'm Ellen and this is Milo. And you're Jared Ryder, if I'm correct on the last name," Ellen said with a smile.

Jared smiled back as they kept walking. "Yeah, you're right. How do you know my name, though? Just curious."

Milo quickly answered. "Your father was one of the best hunters out there, mon! His favorite thing to do was capture Rathalos."

Ellen laughed. "Milo, I think Jared would know what his _father_ was best at and what made him well known here..."

Jared noticed Milo's happiness fade away a little. "Ellen, it's alright. I'm used to it. Anyways," he decided to change the subject. "What are you two hoping to use for your weapon?"

"I'm going to try and be a Gunner. I've used my mom's bowgun once or twice when she's out running errands so I have a little experience with one," Ellen answered. "What about you, Milo?"

"Hammer is where it's at, mon... Nothing like it."

"Ha ha ha well, we'll be sure to let you smash whatever you want as long as it's not us," Jared said.

"Wait," Ellen said. "What will you be using, Ryder?"

"Sword and Shield, Longsword, Switch Axe, Great Sword, who knows," Jared felt the wave of heat from the Workshop hit him as he turned the corner. "I just can't use a Lance or Hammer. Bowgun I haven't tried yet."

"Impressive," Milo said, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you think of the new recruits?" Gerald said to Ben.

"They have much potential. However, time will reveal what they are capable of. We just have to be patient."

"Jared has great expectations upon him. I'm sure he knows that, too," Gerald said with a serious face.

"Well I guess we'll find out his abilities today, won't we?"

"Indeed..."

The five Loc Loc civilians walked to the back of the workshop and stepped through a large doorway with light pouring through it.

Jared took a look around and noticed they were in a large dome area. The walls and ceiling made of carefully carved stone while the ground was a grassy terrain. In the middle, Jared noticed, were seven different weapons on a wooden rack.

Gerald and Ben led the three young hunters to the rack of weapons with Ben quickly turning and taking the Sword and Shield.

"Alright, greenies, listen up!" Gerald said with a major emphasis on authority. "If one of you gets cut while playing with these TOYS, I don't want to hear any whining! See it as a taste for what's gonna come," he finished with a devious laugh.

Gerald stepped back and let Ben take over. "First, what is everyone's skill? Speed? Strength?"

"I'm not very strong, but I'm fast with my hands," Ellen said.

Jared and Milo both looked at each other and burst out laughing. Gerald and Ellen gave them a glare which made them stop immediately. "I didn't mean it like that, you horndogs!"

"Miss Midori, please calm down," Ben said calmly.

"Sorry, sir," Ellen apologized.

"Are you fast with your arms as well as you claim to be with your hands?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not as fast, but I can try."

"Well then, try this on for size," Ben said as he handed over the Hunter's Knife.

"Oh wow, it's so light..." Ellen said as she put the equipment on.

"That's because it's a Sword and Shield, one of the simpler weapons out there," Gerald told her. "Give it a go."

Ellen took a few steps away from the group and got into a fighting stance, as if an invisible monster had just appeared before her.

Without warning, she lunged forward and let out a small fury of stabs and slashes. It all ended just as fast as it began, however, due to the young woman losing her footing and falling backwards onto her butt.

"Well, well," Ben said as he turned towards Gerald.

"Haven't seen someone pick up Sword and Shield thats fast and have it's technique that good in a very long time. Just get that footwork down and you'll have it mastered in no time," the impressed instructor said.

Ellen smiled happily at the four men and set the Sword and Shield back down on the rack.

"Jared, you're up next. What weapon do you think will work with you?" Ben asked kindly. He was just as curious as anyone else to see what the young hunter would pick.

Jared silently walked over to the wooden shelves and took the Great Sword and Longsword down at the same time, one blade in each hand.

Gerald looked up and hid a smile behind his worn face.

Jared wasn't finished yet, however. He first placed the two weapons on the ground at his feet before standing up again and taking a Medium Bowgun, tossing that into the newly formed pile.

Ellen and Milo exchanged disbelieving looks before turning back to their new friend to see if he would make another move.

He did.

Jared finally took his last two weapon choices and laid them with the rest of the weaponry.

Ben quietly chuckled to himself. "So... You have a wide array of weapon choice..."

"Indeed," Gerald said, coming next to Jared. "Bowgun, Sword and Shield, Great Sword, Long Sword, and the Switch Axe..."

"Time to see if you're eyes are bigger than your muscles, however," Ben said.

"Pick up that axe, boy," Gerald said.

Jared did what he was told and picked up the heavy weapon. The boy took several steps back and started swinging it's blade. He used the momentum to propel his new attacks, making them even more powerful.

After a small combo of attacks, Jared pressed a switch on the hilt, quickly switching the blade to it's Great Sword form and performed another combo before finishing up with a charge blast.

Gerald smiled as Jared folded the axe up again. "Alright," he said. "You've got speed and strength. No need to see your talent with the other blades."

Jared nodded and stood by Ellen and Milo again. Milo was still gawking at the pile of weapons on the ground.

"Milo!" Ben yelled, snapping Milo out of his trance.

"Oh! Sorry sir..." the boy apologized.

"It's quite fine," the old man sighed. "Get enough sleep last night?"

"Yes, just a little caught up in thought," Milo nodded.

"Well, what are your weapons of choice?" Gerald stepped into the conversation.

"Hammer, mon."

Ben nodded, taking the giant iron hammer from the weapon rack and handed the massive weapon to Milo.

"Every team should try to have a hammer wielder," Gerald informed as Milo stepped away from the group, rocketing the weapon into the ground with little to no warning.

Ben raised an eyebrow as the boy began to unless a spinning attack, using the momentum to keep the fury of the blunt edge continuing.

Milo finally quit spinning and crashed the hammer's head into the earth once more, finishing his demonstration.

"Alright," Ben said. "I'm impressed."

"Not many people have as much skill as you do when they start off," Gerald told Milo as he put the weapon back.

"Thanks, both of you," Milo said with a bow.

"Well, pick your weapons again," Gerald said to the three young adults. "You're practicing for another two hours."

"Time to correct any mistakes you have with a blade!" Ben laughed a little.

Ellen and Milo sighed and went to retrieve their weapons.

Jared was silent ad he picked up the Ananta Boneblade and began learning how to use the paralysis longsword.

'Looks like this week will be interesting...' Jared thought to himself.

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Yayyyyyy! **Finally** got around to posting this!

So I got a review a long time ago on this... Thanks for the push. I needed to continue this. And I will for a long time. I have began publishing my works to a DSi application called Flipnote Hatena. So yeah, extra reviews and readers. **Tons of positive feedback**. 0_0

Anyways, please review! ^_^ Bye!


	3. 3: Trigger Happy

**King Rathalos ()**: Lol while Rathalos may be the second most common armor set I use, it's definitely not my favorite. As for Jared getting it, we shall see.

**danvo5**: Alright, this is definitely the review that has spurred me to write this chapter faster. It's also my favorite one I've ever received for my work. Thanks for the push.

Lawl. So I'm at a choir concert as I'm writing this. I usually do not attend choir concerts, but I need concert attendance for Percussion Ensemble. =p

Anyways. Been awhile! I'm actually going to start focusing on this fanfiction.

Time for some announcements, I guess:

- The Rise of Mustang might get an entire overhaul. Including title and some plotline.

- I have begun free writing on . If you'd like to check out some of my better and more original work, my username is still Quetou. The book in progress is titled as, "Gemini 8". So yeah, check it out if you get the chance.

You know, I've found the perfect way to enhance my writing for this fanfiction: listen to the soundtrack. For instance, if they're in the Colosseum, I listen to "Give Your Back/Arena" from the Monster Hunter Tri Official Soundtrack. Freakin' love it.

Let's begin, shall we?

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**Thrill of the Hunt**

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Chapter 3: Trigger Happy

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Jared - Age 16

Milo - Age 18

Ellen - Age 17

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Last Chapter: Jared meets two members of his team and they begin their seven day training.

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"Welcome back, young-bloods," Gerald said as Jared, Ellen and Milo reached the meeting spot. "Hope ya slept well because you're going to need full focus for today's training."

Milo yawned and stretched his back. "Sir, where's Ben?"

"You kids don't remember much, do you..." Gerald sighed. "If you must know, he'll be gone until noon. He's with a larger group of new hunters, like yourselves, to select the final member of your team."

The teens nodded and took a seat.

"Now then," Gerald said, "let's discuss today's training. I know you're all a bit sore, but you'll get used to it. It's good for ya. But, since you're new, I'll give you a break.

Jared smirked a little. "You're in a good mood today, captain."

"A guy can be happy, can't he? I may be a strict instructor, but that doesn't mean I'm doomed to being a crotchety old man all my life," Gerald told him. "Anyways, it's time we head off to the Colosseum for the day. We've got something special for ya today."

They all stood and followed the dark-skinned man to the dome. Gerald shoved the large metal doors out of the way and waited for his three trainees to follow through before closing them.

Jared, Milo and Ellen exchanged confused looks as they looked around the large arena. It had been completely remodeled.

Large pillars were scattered around the room along with boulders, logs, and several other pieces of scenery. Rome may not have been built in a day, but the fact that this was put together in a single night with little to no sound was beyond them.

Gerald put a hand on Jared's shoulder and said, "You kids are gonna have a lot of fun today... Alright, let's go. We have a lot to cover. Jared, hand me that Light Bowgun there."

Jared looked behind him and grabbed the smallest gun off the wooden rack before handing it to the man.

"Like you probably have already learned, a Bowgun has three parts to it."

Ellen spoke up. "Barrel, Frame and Stock," she said as she pointed to the parts as she spoke the names.

"Correct," Gerald said. "Now, can anyone tell me what part is most important when it comes to rapid firing a certain type of ammo?"

"The Barrel," Jared said.

"Yes. However, the Frame also allows for you to rapid fire some ammo types. But you get the idea. The Barrel also affects another aspect of the gun's shooting which is?"

Milo's turn to answer. "Deviation, which affects if the shots curve at all."

"So you know the basics of a Barrel. Now let's test on some rapid fire," Gerald folded his arms. "Royal Launcher."

"Water S," Ellen said.

"Thundacrus?"

Milo said, "Thunder S."

"Blizzard Cannon."

"Freeze S," answered Jared.

Gerald nodded. "Alright, sounds like you know the Barrel pretty well. If you ever need to know what gun rapid fires which type of ammo, there's a chart in your home and the Workshop," he explained. "What can you tell me about the Frame?"

Ellen was all over this. "It affects several qualities and is the most important part of the gun. It determines whether it folds or not, how much recoil it has, how fast the gun reloads, determines some ammo selection, makes up most of the weight of the Bowgun, and some Deviation."

Gerald raised an eyebrow at her. "_Very_ impressive, Ellen. I'm surprised you got that much information out in a matter of seconds." Ellen just curtsied at his compliment.

"Moving on," Gerald continued. "What about this part, the Stock?"

"The Stock is probably the least important part of a Bowgun, but it's still necessary for all types," Milo said.

"Stocks can reduce recoil greatly and help with your reload speed," Jared stated. "It helps out more than most think."

Gerald chuckled. "You three know the Bowgun well enough. I guess we can start explaining-"

"Gerald? Is that you?"

The group turned around to face a woman the same age as Gerald.

"Mindy...?" Gerald gasped. "The question is, is that _you_, Mindy?"

The two ran forward and embraced each other into a tight hug. Ellen smiled at the sight.

"I thought I'd never see you again, Ger..." Mindy sighed. Jared swore he could see tears forming on the corners of her eyes.

"I know, I know... I'm here..." Gerald whispered while he rubbed her back comfortingly.

They let go after about thirty seconds of what was total awkwardness for Gerald's students.

"Have you heard about Cody and Warren?" Mindy asked in concern.

"No, what happened?" Gerald responded.

"They went down in the Unmentionable Task..." Mindy said quietly, hanging her head.

Jared's eyes widened and memories flooded his head. He remained silent and respectful, though.

"Cody... Warren..." Gerald whispered to himself in total shock... "The blasted Guild sending thousands of lives only to be struck down by the King of Darkness," he said angrily. His fists were now clenched. "When'd you get word...?" Gerald asked sadly.

"Early this morning..." Mindy replied. "We can't let them keep sending out the hunters to die, many of them being parents and orphaning their children. And now they're calling on the youth? It's not right, Gerald!"

"I know," Gerald said calmly. "But it's our job as instructors to train the next generation of hunters. THEY might succeed where WE have failed." Gerald pointed first at Jared, Milo and Ellen before to him and Mindy.

Mindy sighed. "I guess you're right. Let's get a move on today, shall we? Who are your students?"

"Right," Gerald said, turning to the youth again. "This is Milo who specializes in strength, Ellen who I think will do well with our exercise today, and Jared. Mysterious fellow who I'm not sure where he falls weapon wise at all."

Mindy laughed. "Don't worry about weapon placement - we leave that up to you. The weapon meant for you will stand out. When you grip it, everything'll feel right."

"Sorry we're late, mom. Emma and Amber had to use the bathroom again," a young man said from behind Mindy.

"Oh!" Mindy exclaimed as she turned around. "Guys, these are my students. However, they are also my children. Introduce yourselves, everyone."

The young man, who appeared to be the oldest, nodded and stepped forth. "I'm Derek. These are my two younger sisters, Amber and Emma. They're twins."

"Now our turn," Ellen said as she motioned to the young man on either side of her. "I'm Ellen, this is Milo, and this is Jared."

"Ryder?" Amber questioned.

Jared looked at her. "Yeah. I'm the son of Percy. I'm not like my father, though."

"Shall we get started with our training today, Min?" Gerald asked.

"Yeah, I think it's time we get around to that," she replied. "Come with me, you three."

Mindy, along with her students, began walking through the arena but was caught by Gerald.

"Mindy," Gerald called to her, grabbing her attention and having her turn back towards him.

"Yeah?"

"Five minutes. I still need to explain the objective to them," he said.

"Aright," she nodded. "We'll give each other until the gong sounds."

"Sounds like a plan to me," he started before turning back to his team. "Alright, the objective is simple. You're each given a Light Bowgun and ninety-nine Paint S."

"Alright, but what do we do with that, old man?" Milo joked with him.

Gerald laughed. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood today. Anyways, you're playing one of the more fun training exercises today. It's had several names passed down through the hunter generations, but I personally call it Bowgun Buffoonery," he continued. "Basically, we have red paint while they have blue. You're trying to shoot the members of the opposing side with your color of paint. Once you're shot with the other team's color, you're out until the next round. If you're shot by a member of your own team, you will not receive a penalty. Pretty simple game. You think you guys got it?"

"Yes sir!" the three exclaimed in unison as they saluted him.

Gerald smiled. "You kids are gonna go far. Now go grab a gun and your pack."

Jared sprinted to the rack of Bowguns and pile of packs on the ground. He grabbed one of each and headed back to his instructor with his friends in tow. When they all arrived, Gerald took Jared's gun and two balls of red paint out of his pack.

"I expect you two to follow me closely as I show you how to reload your gun," Gerald said as he looked at Milo and Ellen. "Jared, you're just going to have to watch me and figure it out for yourself. Knowing you, though, you'll be able to get it done in no time."

The man then gripped the gun by it's stock with the inside of his upper arm and pulled a switch on the left side of the gun. A piece of metal slid open on the top and a hollow cylinder was revealed. Gerald then took the two balls of paint and slid them inside. He took a quick glance at Ellen and Milo to see if they had kept up with him so far, which they luckily were. The old instructor then went back to Jared's gun and pushed forward the switch he had pulled back just a few moments ago. This caused the piece of metal to slide forward again and lock the Paint S in the gun, ready to be fired. He then handed the gun back to Jared.

"There ya go. It's all ready to go, I'm just going to expect you be able to find the trigger yourself. Oh and don't forget your pack," Gerald said as he gave Jared his pack which he swung over his left shoulder while the gun was on his right.

The large hunting gong sounded from the top of the arena, signaling the start of the game.

"Hurry off, you three! The team's coming!" Gerald yelled as he ran to the stone stairs that led to the seats surrounding the arena where Mindy was waiting for him.

Jared and his companions all exchanged a look of confidence and seriousness with each other before they all took off into the battlefield on their own separate paths. As Jared silently trudged onwards, he noticed several logs were hollowed out. Without another thought, he slid into one of them, aimed down his sights and waited for his prey.

Not less than a minute into waiting, Jared heard the shuffle of feet a few yards in front of him. He lay very still in the shadows of the log, breathing silently as he waited out his catch. Until...

He heard a gun shot from above him and sudden pain rocketed through his spinal chord. Jared yelled out as he turned to see what hit him.

Amber. Kneeling on top of the log and giggling quietly as she peered in through a large hole on the top of the log.

"Can the cute boy take a shot to the spine at point blank range? Looks like I've found an Achilles' Heel on Ryder," she taunted.

Jared blushed at her teasing. How could she be so playful in something like this?

"How'd you know I was in here? I made no noise at all!" he grunted in annoyance.

"You're so naïve... There's _always_ someone attempting to hide in one of these old things," Amber said as she extended a hand towards him. "Come on, let's get you out of there."

Just as Jared was about to take her help, he heard a shot fire from a ways off. They both looked in the direction it came from, but it was too late. Amber tried to duck, but red paint splattered all over back, the same spot Jared had been hit just moments before.

Amber fell into the log as she winced.

"Whoa!" Jared exclaimed as he caught her. "You alright?"

Amber laughed. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think Ellen saw me shoot you and decided to get revenge while proving her aim."

"Ha ha ha I'll bet you're right," Jared said as he helped her up. "Guess that's two out of six down. How long does a round usually last?"

"About fifteen minutes. Although my mom has had one go for an hour and a half," Amber said as she sat across from Jared in the log. "I'm going to guess this one's going to last for another ten minutes, though. Maybe fifteen."

"Ah," Jared said as he thought of what to do next round. "You seem like you've had experience with this game. Wanna explain?"

Amber was fiddling around with her gun as she answered. "My mother's been an instructor for as long as I can remember. She's had me and my two siblings memorizing strategies to outsmart other teams in every situation ever since we were about ten years old."

"Hm. A little unfair to some, but it'll keep you alive," Jared laughed. "How old are you anyways?"

"Sixteen," she said as she moved some of her chestnut hair out of her face. "You?"

"Same as you, but I turn seventeen as soon as the dry season ends," Jared said.

"Nice."

They were silent for about a minute as they just let time pass. Then Jared noticed something troubling Amber's face.

"You alright?" he questioned.

"Yeah," she said. "Just thinking."

"About?"

Amber sighed. "You and your life. A lot of us Loc Lac civilians know the story."

"Ah..." Jared trailed off. "But why are you thinking about it? It's not anything that can be changed. My father made his decision. I'm the only Ryder in existence, I've accepted that fact."

"But the conditions you're living in?" Amber said with a look of worry. "It's just not right, with your father going off and-"

"Hey!" Derek's voice came from outside the log as he knocked twice on the tough wood.

"Huh?" Amber said as she stood up through the hole to face her brother. "What is it?"

"Round just ended - we lost. Ellen took you and me out from the top of a large pillar," he explained. "You're leaving orphan boy and coming with me to set up for the next round."

Jared had no reaction to the name calling he received and just sat in the log. He could feel Amber's emotions spark up a little as Derek finished, though. The air became slightly tense with her anger.

"Don't call him that, Derek. You're just a jerk who can't get any," Amber insulted.

Jared closed his eyes in disappointment. He didn't want any fighting between them.

"I wouldn't be treatin' me like that, little girl. Remember, we live in the same house and we're on the same team," Derek said. "Besides, you and Ryder are on opposing teams. What are you doing just _talking_ to him?"

"We're all on the same team, Derek. Are you _that_ blind?" Amber yelled at him. "Every single hunter is aiming for the same goal..."

Jared stood up walked out of the giant log, heading back in the direction his team's meeting point was.

Derek laughed as he noticed Jared's departure. "Yeah, that's right! Run away to your little team!"

Jared stopped and did not turn. "Hey Derek," he said seriously. "Put your gun where your mouth is."

Amber smirked at his remark and tried to refrain from laughing.

"Say that again, you little-" Derek started.

"I said, _put you gun where your mouth is_."

Derek snapped. He reached for his gun, quickly loaded it and aimed for Jared's head.

Jared saw all this coming and ducked as Derek's shot totally missed it's mark. While Jared ducked, he spun on his feet on the loose dirt, whipped out his own gun, and fired two shots right into Derek's chest. The double impact caused the muscular young man to stumble back a few steps.

Amber was amazed at Jared's speed and skill with a gun. Her jaw slightly dropped as she looked at her brother.

Jared silently slipped his gun back into the position on his right shoulder and continued walking to his destination.

"Kid's going down next round..." Derek muttered as him and Amber walked in the other direction.

Amber couldn't stop smiling as she walked with her brother. She _had_ to follow Derek closely next time...

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As Jared arrived to the meeting spot and started reloading his gun, he noticed Gerald walk into the small clearing.

"So kid," the Uppity Instructor said. "Nice little show you put on out there with Derek."

"You're not mad?" Jared asked as he swung the gun around his shoulder.

"Normally, I would be," Gerald admitted. "But Mindy witnessed the entire thing. He gave you enough crap to have me let it slide. Not to mention him firing that shot at your head without you looking. No, I'd say you did what we like to call self defense."

Ellen chuckled at Gerald's comments. "Hey Jare. You better pull your weight next round. I saw Amber get ya."

Jared laughed. "Yeahhh, I'm not too proud of that. I've learned now, though. Nice sniping position, by the way. How'd you get up there, anyway?"

"Women are more flexible than men," was all she said before walking off.

Jared shrugged it off and waited for the next round to start.

ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ

With six rounds completed and half of the day's training completed, the score so far was Gerald's team at four wins and Mindy's with two. It was now time for a break and appropriately placed for an hour long dinner.

Jared was the last to leave the Colosseum. He walked up the stairs into the dining hall where he found several wooden tables, several of them filled with other hunting groups. He saw Ellen and Milo sitting at one near the middle. Jared decided to take one of the empty tables near the back of the large room.

He sighed as he sat down and rested his head onto his arms, closing his eyes.

"Long day, huh?"

Jared's eyes opened to see Amber standing on the other side of the table, smiling at him. "You look a little worn out there. Oh, do you mind?" she asked as she motioned to the bench.

"Oh, no, not at all," Jared said. "But yeah, I'm a little tired. I've about had enough of this game for one day."

Amber laughed as she took a seat and propped her head up on her hands while her elbows supported the weight. "Well, it's not over yet. We've still got the even harder part to come in."

This caught Jared's attention. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me. After this, we meet our new teammate and then one more element is thrown into the game," Amber told him.

"You gotta be kidding... I was expecting the new member after this, but I didn't expect a twist..." Jared complained.

"Ha ha ha oh come on. It's not that bad. Just expect it to get a bit more intense, shall we say," Amber said. "But enough of that depressing talk. I want to talk about what I saw in the arena."

Jared looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"No, you do. When my dorky brother started insulting you near the beginning, when you took him out in every single round first thing, then when you spared me twice when you had several seconds to take me out of the round," she said. "I want to know what's going on inside your head, Jared."

Jared sighed. "You wanna know? Fine," he said. "I've been insulted many times, often by people I thought were my friends. This led to my trust being the Holy Grail to some. I have trust issues, that's the bottom line," Jared explained. "Anyways, when he insulted me, I didn't have any reaction to it at all. But when he said to run to my team, I decided to give Derek a test. He failed when he pulled out his gun."

"Alright, but where'd you learn to do that little stunt with the spin?" Amber questioned.

"Right at that moment. It's not that hard, honestly," he said humbly. "But onto the next portion. I took him out every single round because I knew if I didn't he'd just get me instead. Hopefully it taught him something."

"Okay, now for the next part. You said you had trust issues," Amber started. "Then why'd you spare me?"

Jared sighed and looked out one of the windows at the setting sun. "You stood up for me, listened to me, thought about my current situation and have the same views as I do when it comes to hunters."

"Alright..." Amber said. "So... friends?"

Jared looked at her curiously. She smiled at him hopefully as she extended a hand. Jared smirked a little and chuckled. "Heh, sure," he said as they shook hands.

* * *

Whoo! Done! That was one beast of a chapter... I'm glad I got it out of the way. Tell me what you guys thought on all of it. I threw in a lot of plot crap in there, but I just need to get this story started.

As much as I enjoyed writing this chapter, it was originally going to be a lot longer. But, I mean, this chapter alone is 4,309 words. =p

Well, I finally got me a laptop for Christmas. This means more updates and what not. I'm mainly going to be using it for the films I'm directing, though. But that doesn't really interest you guys.

So next chapter is going to be the second half of this day. Hopefully I can keep the length the same. I know everyone likes larger updates. Ah well, I'll try to get that out by next week, hopefully.

Seriously guys, review this. Those keep me going above all else. I want three reviews for this one. I put a _lot_ of work into it. Anyways, I'm losing consciousness and I need sleep. Night, all you readers.


	4. 4: The Name's Trasmus

**Steviedude12**: Thanks for the compliment. Glad to know my work is good enough to inspire people. =) Just wait, the fic isn't even really started up yet. I can't WAIT to get to the actual hunting and what not... But you know, that's one of the necessities of writing. You need to feed your readers little plot hints occasionally. You can sometimes drop a big one, but make sure you don't do it very often. Well, I look forward to reading your work soon. Have fun with it. =)

**KingRathalos**: Ha ha ha I don't know why you're apologizing. Lol I'm just saying it's not my favorite armor. I know it's a VERY popular armor set, though. My favorite is my Clust Gunning set because of the skills I gave it. ;)

**Lazarus**: Thanks. =) Detail is always one thing I've tried to focus on since it's extremely important in my opinion. Don't worry, this is now my main fic I'm focusing on. It'll have plenty of chapters coming in the next year.

**I got lazy XD**: Ha ha thanks for the compliment. Yes, I play. My name is Recon on it. So PM me whenever you want to play. I look forward to meeting up with a reader. =)

I feel bad I haven't kept up with updating this story. So let's just start.

* * *

_Last Chapter: Gerald is reunited with Mindy, his old hunting partner. Gerald's team is thrown into a paint ball battle with Mindy's team for their second day of training. Jared and Amber, one of Mindy's students and daughter, become friends. Derek, Amber's older brother and also one of Mindy's students, and Jared have a little showdown, leaving Derek bitter and wanting revenge. It's now dinner time and Amber and Jared are discussing what's yet to come._

* * *

Thrill of the Hunt

* * *

Chapter 4: The Name's Trasmus

* * *

Jared - Age 16

Amber - Age 16

Emma - Age 16

Ellen - Age 17

Milo - Age 18

Derek - Age 18

* * *

Jared bit into the stale bread ration provided by the Loc Lac Guild. Old bread crackers, carrots that hadn't been washed at all and water that tasted as if it had been used to wash the dishes from the last meal.

"What's up with our dinner?" Amber asked as she cringed just by looking at it. "That felyne said it was going to be a feast! I'm going to have a word with him..." she said sternly as she stood to find the small sand colored cat.

"Don't," Jared said, grabbing her arm. "It's supposed to be like this... We're still in training. It'll get better later on," he explained.

"Ugh, fine... But seriously, this is terrible," she said as she sat back down.

Jared had to agree. They wanted them to eat this crap yet expected them to achieve something no hunter had ever done? He shrugged it off and bit down on the dry orange carrot.

Amber took a drink of the water and coughed slightly. "Note to self... Train myself to get rid of the gag reflex..."

Jared chuckled at her and kept fighting the reflex himself.

"Hey..." a familiar voice said at the end of the table.

Jared and Amber focused their attention towards Derek, standing there with his plate and wooden cup. Some red pain still clung to his short black hair where Jared had shot him repeatedly in each round.

"Oh, hey," Jared said cautiously. "What's up?"

Amber just looked at him with her jaw slightly dropped and her right eyebrow raised.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier..." Derek said, not looking either of them in the eye. He couldn't bear to do that. "May I?" he asked, motioning to the seat next to Amber.

"Derek, just-" Amber started.

"Please do," Jared told him with a friendly smile. Amber and Derek both looked at him in disbelief. "What? He can sit, it's not like either of us have a gun right now. Every thing's calm," he told Amber.

"Ugh, fine," Amber said, crossing her arms. "Just don't cause any trouble."

Jared looked back to Derek. "You were saying?"

"Oh, um..." he started. "I'm really sorry about earlier. I don't know what quite got into me, I guess I'm still learning that all of us hunters are on the same side in the end," Derek finished.

"It's fine," Jared assured him. "How's your head?"

Amber laughed a little as the sticky red substance matted his hair down and some spikes went off in different directions. Derek chuckled. "I think it's going to be in style to have hair like this someday."

Jared laughed at his remark. "Be sure to let me know when it does."

"Will do," Derek said happily as he grabbed a carrot.

Amber tried to stop him. "Don't do that!"

Too late. Already in his mouth. "Dear aptonoth! Where's the cat? I'm gonna kill him!" Derek yelled as he ran off.

Amber and Jared just turned to each other and burst out laughing.

ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ

Jared walked back to the Colosseum alone. Mindy had grabbed Derek and Amber and took off to prepare for the rest of the evening's training. Amber told Jared they'd see each other later on in the night, though.

'Wonder what she meant...' he thought as he descended the winding staircase that led to the Colosseum's stone bleachers. Gerald, Milo and Ellen were waiting for them.

"There he is," Gerald said to his two teammates. "Where were ya at dinner, lad? Had a nice date with that new lady friend ya picked up from earlier today?" he teased.

"Huh. Didn't think you'd mind, sorry." Jared apologized as he made his way next to the old instructor.

"Nah, I don't really. Just teasin' ya," Gerald said. "Alright, Mindy, come on in."

The three teens turned their attention to the corridor to their right to see Mindy along with her three students following closely behind her. "Shall we explain the next part of the training, Gerald?"

"No, you're forgetting one thing," he told her. "Our new additions."

"Huh?" she asked curiously. "Oh!" Mindy then realized what he was talking about.

"Gerald! Mindy!" Ben's voice came from the spiral staircase.

"Was that Ben?" Ellen asked.

Gerald chuckled. "Yep."

Ben stepped down the stairs and into view of the eight friends. "You weren't thinking of starting without me were you?" he laughed. "Anyways."

Jared noticed two people behind the elderly man. Two young men who looked to have slightly nervous expressions on their faces. "Those our new recruits, Ben?" Jared asked with a smile.

"Indeed my boy!" Ben exclaimed. "Gerald, I'd like you to meet your new student."

The young man on Ben's right side walked forward and shook Gerald's hand.

"What's your name, son?" Gerald asked nicely, throwing in a smile.

"Trasmus, sir," the boy responded.

Jared's jaw dropped slightly. "Tras...?"

Trasmus peered over Gerald's shoulder and immediately bore the same expression as Jared. "Jared? Is that _you_?"

"Didn't think I'd see you again..." Jared gasped. The two quickly rushed forward and shared a quick, yet manly, embrace with each other. "Why are you here?"

"Came looking for you..." Trasmus said sadly. "Yukumo Village was destroyed... I'm not sure if anyone made it out in time before..."

"Before what?" Jared asked quietly.

"Amatsumagatsuchi..." Trasmus whispered.

Jared's heart sunk as he closed his eyes. "Then we better make the best of our lives here. As far as I know, Loc Lac is safe."

"I hope you're right... But enough mourning. We need to stay on topic," Trasmus said, a new fire ignited in his heart. "Who're your friends?"

"Ah. They can introduce themselves," Jared said to them.

Ellen smiled and shook Trasmus' hand kindly. "I'm Ellen," she said before pushing Milo forward, "and this is Milo." Milo and Trasmus shook hands as well, laughing.

"Nice to meet you, Ellen, Milo. I look forward to our time together," Trasmus said happily. "Sorry about Jared and I. Him and I grew up together."

"Really? I thought Jared lived here in Loc Lac his whole life..." Ellen said in a very confused tone.

"Not at all," Jared explained. "I grew up in Pokke Village with my parents and two older brothers until I was twelve. Then father decided to take everyone but me to Loc Lac to serve the Loc Lac Guild. He said I needed to learn a bit more before I set out to meet them in the city..."

"My family took Jared in since we were best friends," Trasmus continued for Jared. "Jared left when he was thirteen and a half."

"I had learned everything I could from the Elder and your family. I needed to experience things for myself. In Loc Lac," Jared told them. "I arrived at the main gates a little after I turned fourteen and rented out one of the huts down the street."

"Jared, what happened to your father and the rest of your family...?" Trasmus asked.

"Oh! Um, let's not talk about that right now... It's sort of a sensitive subject around these parts..." Ellen explained.

Trasmus looked at Jared with an eyebrow raised. Jared only nodded to his best friend. "You'll hear about it later on. I can promise you that." Trasmus shrugged and decided to turn his attention to Gerald.

"Well, since we've all seemed to get to know our new additions, let's begin explaining the new rules," Ben said as he gathered the eight students. "Gerald, Mindy, I'm going to need you two to help me with this, too."

"Have a seat, kiddies," Gerald said as him and his two companions made their way to the row of seats below the row where the students were sitting.

Ben turned to face the group and held up a small yellow orb. "Can anyone tell me what this is?" Four of the kids raised their hands. "Tyson, you tell me."

"It's a flash bomb, sir," the new addition to Mindy's team said.

"Yes," Ben chuckled. "Care to tell me how it works?"

"There's a bomb casing which holds a flashbug. There's a small button on it that if it's pressed, the other side of the button crushes the flashbug and emits a _very_harsh blinding flash," Tyson explained.

"Correct. How do you use a flash bomb correctly?" Ben asked.

Milo answered this one. "You throw it as fast as you can when you press the button, mon. But you gotta make sure the monster you're trying to stun with the flash is looking in the direction of the flash."

"Alright, thank you, Milo and Tyson," Ben said. "Gerald, you're turn."

"Why do I have to explain the easy item?" Gerald complained.

"Because he didn't think you had the capacity of using what I have to explain," Mindy taunted him.

Gerald just shot her a glare before starting. "I'm assuming you all have seen one of these before..." he said in a very bored tone as he held up a stick wrapped in a sticky substance at the top of it. "If not, I'll pray for when you go hunting..."

Ellen laughed. "It's a torch."

"Yes, I know, thank you Ellen," Gerald said sarcastically. Jared and her did a knuckle bump and laughed quietly. "I'm not going to ask you to explain it, I'm just going to explain it myself..."

Jared wouldn't let that happen. "That stuff near the top is solidified torch oil. It might be solidified, but it's still ready to be lit."

Gerald shot Jared a glare. "I said _I_ was going to explain it!"

Jared continued cockily. "On all armors, there is a flint and stone both knuckles. They're meant mainly for lighting a torch, but they have some other uses. A torch can be lit for a maximum of fifty minutes before it becomes useless," he said as he smiled cockily.

Gerald sighed. "Next lesson: obedience, Jared. Obedience." Jared just gave a small bow in his seat. "Mindy, you finish," Gerald finishing, pouting.

"Gladly," Mindy laughed as she stepped forward. She held up a small white sphere of cloth. "Tell me what this is."

"That's the smoke bomb!" Emma exclaimed. "We used to play with them as children. Against your wishes, of course."

"And how does it work?"

"Simple," Amber said. "The cloth wrapping is highly flammable. You can just use your flints to set it to fire and throw it on the ground. The ivy inside burns incredibly fast and makes a _lot_ of smoke."

Milo coughed to get attention. "You can also hide in the smoke from a large monster. But only if it hasn't seen you first," he explained.

"Impressive knowledge," Ben commented. "You kids are ready for your final training of the night. Follow me, please."

The group stood and followed Ben down a stone hall and down a very large flight of stairs. Jared noticed how far down they had descended.

"Sir, where are we going?" he asked Ben.

"You'll see... or not." Ben chuckled slightly. Jared raised his eyebrows at his peculiar answer.

Emma grabbed Jared's arm so he walked next to her and Amber. "Mom hinted at this a little," Emma whispered.

"What do you mean? Can't she just tell you what you're doing?" Jared asked her quietly.

"Not exactly. It's against the rules of being an instructor. She may be our mother, but she still has to follow the rules," she explained. "Tell me. Why do you think we had that lecture on those three objects?"

Jared furrowed his brow as he concentrated. Didn't really help much as the temperature was also dropping considerably. "I'm not sure... Are we... using them?" Jared asked as he started shivering.

"Of course. Why wouldn't we? Item training is the day after tomorrow," Emma said. "From what I've put together, we're going very far underground and doing the same exercise from before, only it's going to be a lot larger and very dark. Oh, and cold. You can already feel that kicking in."

Jared rubbed his arms to get a small amount of warmth but only to have it fade away three times as fast as it came. "Let's just hope we get there soon..."

"Agreed..." Emma said.

After a total of half an hour of descending, the temperature had gone from eighty degrees to twenty. The kids were all shivering considerably while the three mentors just felt a small chill. There were small oil lamps attached to the sides of the walls maybe every twenty feet, but it didn't produce very much light.

Jared noticed that they're surroundings had changed considerably, as well. The hallway from before had been nice polished marble. Now it was just a rough stone cave that had a slipper ground occasionally due to the moisture coming off the rocks from groundwater.

Ben and his two companions stopped suddenly and pulled a lantern off the wall. "Alright kids, take a look."

"Where?" Ellen asked. "There's nothing to look at down here. Just wet, hard cave. Not much to look at."

Ben laughed. "You kids are going to have fun tonight. Here. Watch. Hey! Rafael! Light the bowl!" he yelled.

It echoed. Jared's eyes widened as realization dawned on him. "A massive cavity underneath the city..." he whispered.

"What?" Amber hissed.

A massive fireball appeared far above. There was no wall in front of the group.

"Knew it..." Jared said.

The fire gave off a considerable amount of light in the cavern. It was colossal. Maybe one thousand feet high and about a mile wide. The ceiling had many large stalactites. Some with the possible length of a hundred feet.

Jared looked down and gasped. A gigantic labyrinth. The walls had to be at least thirty feet tall.

"Follow and try not to get lost." Ben said. "We're going down."

"D-Down there?" Milo gulped.

Ben smiled cruelly. "Where else?" he taunted as he stepped onto a wooden platform, his friends following.

The platform shuddered a bit when they were all on. "You sure this thing is safe?" Trasmus asked.

"No," Gerald said. "I've always hated coming down here..." Amber and Jared looked at each other, exchanging a worried look.

Ben pulled a lever on the side of the platform. It shook for a moment before descending.

"Don't even ask how this thing is suspended. Just be glad you can't see it," Mindy told them.

When the group reached the bottom, they arrived at one of the corners of the giant maze. It had an opening. And it dawned on the kids: they were going in.

"Alright greenies, listen up," Gerald said gruffly. "You're now all on the same side. But only temporarily."

"There's three other teams of eight all placed at the corners of this thing. Your task is to head in there and make it to the middle. Not an easy feat, trust me," Ben told them.

Mindy's turn to explain. "You're not trying to take out the other teams this time. Making it to the middle and hitting our team's gong will signal that you've made it. It will be the red one."

"Question," Jared said. "If we do somehow happen to take out all the other teams, does that count as a win as well?"

"No, you still have to run to the middle. Although the same rules apply. You will be unable to participate in the round any further if you have been shot by someone of an opposing side," Ben said. "You think you kids got it?"

"Yes sir," they all said together.

"Now here's the thing..." Mindy said. "That giant fire isn't going to be lit during this."

"How are we supposed to see, then?" Derek asked.

"This," Gerald said as he held up an unlit torch. "There will be torch posts set up along the way that you can light with this or you can just carry this the entire time if you want."

"You are to stick with one other member of your team, also," Ben said. "Now, along with your torch, you'll each be given five flash bombs, ten smoke bombs, and ninety nine red paint shots for a Light Bowgun."

"Alright, easy enough," Jared said. "Let's get going."

"Not so fast."

"Huh?" Jared said curiously as he turned to Gerald.

"You're not going to be given them at the start," he said.

Ellen raised an eyebrow. "You just said we would be given them. So make up your mind, please?"

Gerald chuckled. "You're going to have to find the Bowguns, flashes and smokes inside the maze. If you find them first, there yours to keep."

"Great... Nice way to taunt us..." Tyson muttered.

"Alright, we can handle that. Send us in," Ellen said.

"Fine, fine. Go grab a pack and a torch. The match starts in one minute. That's when the light goes out," Mindy told the anxious teens. "Oh, and don't forget to figure out your partner."

Trasmus and Jared looked right at each other and made a silent, mutual decision they'd have each other's backs in the stone labyrinth. They walked over to the pile of items and each grabbed one of the brown packs containing their ninety nine paint shots and torches.

"Hey," Amber said as she grabbed Jared's arm. "I want you to be careful. I overheard my mom say there were some twists in this maze that they weren't supposed to mention."

"I will. Meet you in the middle.," Jared assured her with a smile. "Let's go Trassy."

"Do _not_ call me that..." Trasmus said as him and his best friend walked off into the darkness. "Light one of the torches."

Jared took one of the two torches from the pack and held the end near Trasmus' knuckles which he struck together, creating a spark and lighting the torch which gave off a fair amount of light. Jared looked around the group and noticed they had all done the same.

He turned to the opening in the corner. "Let's go."

The group walked off, splitting into their partnerships as new hallways presented themselves as they progressed into the maze. The massive fire high above them was sealed off with a cover, cutting off the oxygen and killing the fire.

Everything was pitch black except for the sixteen lights from the torches wandering blindly in the stone puzzle. Trasmus and Jared couldn't see more than fifteen feet in front of them.

"What's that smell?" Trasmus whispered to his partner as they quietly trudged on. "It smells of rotting flesh and blood that's been sitting for a month..."

Jared sniffed the air. He smelled it, too, but decided to shrug it off. "I'm sure it's just the cavern. This place is pretty old, you know," he said. "Amber said something, though..."

"Amber?"

"She's a friend of mine. Daughter and student of Mindy," Jared explained. "Anyways. She said that there were some twists in this exercise that the instructors weren't allowed to mention."

"What do you mean?" Trasmus asked curiously as they turned a corner.

"I'm not sure. That's all she could say before we left."

Trasmus sighed. "Great... Well, let's just concentrate on finding the heart of this thing."

"Agreed."

"So. You and Ryder, huh?" Emma asked her sister teasingly.

"Shut up!" Amber exclaimed with a whisper. "He's hiding a lot from everyone..."

"Yeah, like how you two are totally in love."

"We are not," Amber protested. "We were just having a talk to get to know each other a little earlier today."

"Derek said you two were really hitting it off," Emma continued.

"Derek's a dork," Amber said, getting a little bit of a giggle from her twin sister. "Yeah, Jared and I connected really fast, but it doesn't mean we have feelings for each other."

"But you still have to agree he's pretty cute," Emma said teasingly, sticking her tongue out.

"Okay, a little bit, yes. But that's kind of besides the point... Hey... Do you smell that?" Amber asked as she sniffed the air.

"Yeah, it's putrid... Smells like death..." Emma said shakily. She was honestly a bit scared to be down here.

A high-pitched scream suddenly echoed around the massive cave.

"Sounds like someone decided to put out their torch," Gerald chuckled to Mindy.

"Glad it's no one from our group. They all went in with torches blazing," she said.

"Did you hear that?" Trasmus whispered as him and Jared didn't move a muscle.

"Who didn't?" Jared hissed. "Whatever it is, it's on the other side of the maze."

"It?" Trasmus raised an eyebrow as they began to inch forward with extreme caution. "What make's you think there's only one?"

"Because a scream that loud means it must have been something pretty big and nasty..." Jared reasoned. "Check around this corner."

"Fine..." Trasmus replied reluctantly. "Wait... Put out the torch. It can probably find us a lot easier with these torches."

Jared shrugged and swung the torch pretty fast, causing the fire to go out. "The only problem is, now we can't see until our night vision is functional."

"Oh, we'll be fine. We just gotta hang tight for a bit," Trasmus said. He heard a noise behind him, causing the young man to raise his eyebrow. "Yo, Jared. You get enough to eat or what? You're stomach almost sounded like... a... giggi..." Trasmus' eyes widened in realization at what was going on as he whirled around in what would be Jared's direction. "Jared! Where are you?"

Trasmus whipped out his own torch and quickly lit it to see Jared's face being attacked by a giggi. The blood sucking leech was latched around Jared's left cheek while Jared was trying to claw the fly wyvern off. "Help!" Jared managed to yell in his shock to his partner.

"This might burn a bit!" Trasmus shouted to Jared as he swung the torch at the end of the giggi's gray body. A few embers came off and landed on Jared's arms, causing him to yell out in pain. The giggi loosened it's powerful mouth and fell onto the ground, hissing at the torch.

Jared fell back against a wall and quickly lit his own torch. "What the heck is that thing?" Jared began rubbing his sleeve against his slightly bloody cheek.

Trasmus slammed the end of his torch into the giggi's body, burning it to death. The smell of burning flesh quickly filled their nostrils. Trasmus stood up once the giggi was a charred corpse. "That," he sighed as he wiped some sweat off his forehead. "Was a giggi... Nasty little fly wyverns that get their nutrients from the animals' blood they feed off of..."

"Ugh, my cheek is stinging... These things got any venom in them?" Jared asked as he tried to sooth the pain.

"Yeah," Trasmus answered as he bent down to help his friend. "But they can't spit it while they're attached to a body. Just be glad this wasn't an adult giggi... How long was it attached to you?"

"I dunno," Jared said as he winced. "Maybe six seconds?"

"Alright, well that's a considerable amount of blood loss..." Trasmus said in a worried tone. "You could probably die..."

Jared looked at him in pure shock and horror. "What?"

Trasmus laughed. "I'm kidding. You're going to be fine."

"I hate you, you know that?"

"I know. Just like old times," Trasmus chuckled as he helped Jared up. "Come on, let's hurry and get to this gong so we can get you treated."

"Alright... We leave our torches _lit_ from now on..." Jared said seriously as they turned the corner. "Where'd you learn about giggi?"

"Yukumo Village. A couple got into one of the caves in the farm and made a nest. They killed a few felynes..." Trasmus said sadly. "The chief decided gave everyone a few lessons on every monster out there. That's partially why I was picked to be in this team: provide intel on quests and monsters. You guys do know a lot about the weapons and equipment, but Ben said you could use a tiny bit of help on the knowledge of monsters."

"That would be wise," Jared winced. "Hey, what's that light up ahead?"

Sure enough, a small flickering light could be seen down the long stone walkway.

"Not sure. Gives me the creeps though..." Trasmus strained his vision to see if he could see if it was another pair using their torch.

Jared was about to call out to see if it was anyone they knew, but his better judgement got ahold of him before he yelled. "Think we should go check it out? That's kind of where the scream came from. The one from before."

"I dunno, it's a risky move. That scream could have been a decoy to bring others there and... What's that noise?"

"What noise?" Jared cocked his head just as a glowing green ball, no bigger than your eye, flew past Jared's head and splattered into the wall next to him. Jared jumped in surprise.

"They found a gun..." Trasmus said as realization sunk in. "Jared, run! If one of us gets hit, we're out of the race!"

Jared turned just as another two shots flew between Trasmus and him, one of the shots coming close to making contact with Trasmus' ear. The two friends dove around the corner and started immediately on recovering their breath. The air was thin down here, though, and made it difficult to manage.

"Definitely not one of our team..." Trasmus panted. "Our color is red while that was clearly a green," he said, pointing at where the balls had hit the wall.

"You're really out of shape," Jared said as he looked at his best friend, who was still recovering his breath. "We ran like thirty feet," he chuckled.

"Shut up," Trasmus snapped back. "We need our own gun or at least some sort of defense. I have a feeling that way is how we get to the gongs. Too bad that hall is at least two hundred feet..."

"Here, give me a hand," Jared said, looking up at the wall. "There's something up higher on it."

Trasmus looked up and scowled. "Probably just another giggi. I wouldn't expect it to be a gun or anything up there."

"Hand me the torch."

Trasmus shrugged and handed the torch off to his companion. Jared held the torch up higher to shed some light on what was attached to the upper part of the wall. Jared raised his eyebrow, as did Trasmus.

Five small spheres resting on a ledge.

"Innnteresting... I was expecting our equipment to be at a dead end on the ground somewhere... Like in a chest or something," Jared said.

"Yeah, well, you were wrong," Trasmus told him, chuckling slightly.

"Oh shut up. Like you weren't expecting the same thing..." Jared said sarcastically.

"How the heck are we supposed to get up there, anyways?" Trasmus asked, looking up at the ledge.

"Not too high up..." Jared said to himself. "Get on my shoulders."

Trasmus looked at him with an odd expression. "You honestly think we can reach them?"

"Worth a shot," Jared shrugged. "Up you go," he said as Trasmus climbed onto his friend's shoulders.

"Let's see..." Trasmus grunted as he reached for the small spheres.

"Come on man, you're getting heavy..." Jared complained.

"If it gets to be too much, we can switch. Hold on, almost there.." Trasmus strained as he tried grasping the small orbs, his fingers slightly running along the edge of one.

"No, man, we gotta go!" Jared whispered in urgency. "Those two with the gun are coming. I hear them whispering..."

"I need more time!"

"Too bad. Jump for them," Jared hissed. "One, two," Jared and Trasmus braced. "Three!" Jared jumped a small height, where Trasmus jumped off his shoulders and knocked the five smoke bombs off the ledge.

"Catch them!" Trasmus yelled as Jared slid his pack to cushion the fall. The five spheres landed smoothly on the leather and cloth, causing a small thud to come from the impact. Trasmus landed neatly on the ground next to Jared.

"Nicely done..." the two said in unison.

"Give me one of those bombs. I have an idea..." Trasmus said deviously.

Jared shrugged and picked up the small pack and placed four of the bombs inside, but handed the last to Trasmus.

"Crouch down with me," Trasmus said as he knelt down and inched toward the corner. "I can still hear the other two. They're waiting for us..."

Jared got what his friend was meaning and knelt down beside him. "Ready?" he whispered.

"Yeah, I'll release the smoke. Then you stay low and take out the legs of them both. I'll take the gun."

Jared nodded. "One, two," they felt their muscles tighten. "Now."

Trasmus did a barrel roll and smashed the smoke bomb. A blast of air and thick, white smoke covered the hall.

"What the?" one of the exclaimed as him and his companion were immediately blinded.

Jared started sneaking towards the two pairs of legs and clenched his right hand into a fist. Jared heard two shots fire off as the one carrying the gun panicked and wasted his ammo. He chuckled and tackled one of the pairs of legs, feeling the weight they carried come stumbling down with a yell. Jared quickly knocked the wind out of his opponent by elbowing his stomach. He heard them start trying to regain the lost air. Jared took this opportunity to take two shots of red paint from his pack before seeing the other body mass fall next to him. Jared recognized that it wasn't Trasmus, immediately stole the gun and drove the stock of it into his stomach, putting him in the same position as his friend who lay next to him.

Jared quickly loaded the two paint shots into the gun. He pointed it at them and fired once into the chest of both of them.

The smoke faded and visibility was restored as Trasmus lit his torch. "That wasn't the plan..." he said.

Jared laughed and looked at his friend, handing him the gun. "Nope. Improvised when I was given a better opportunity."

"I know," Trasmus chuckled. "I liked it. You're reflexes are sharper than what Ben described."

"Let's talk about that later," Jared said. "What about these two?"

Trasmus looked at the two other hunters who were just finishing regaining the wind that was knocked out of them. "Well, since you shot them, they're out of the match. What do we do?"

"Guess we just leave them here. With the giggi," Jared said, looking the one that had the gun before. His eyes shot open in fear, causing Jared to laugh. "Dude, I'm kidding. We're going to leve you here, but we'll let you have your two torches to fend them off."

"Fair enough..." one of them said. "Nice job, by the way. We weren't expecting that at all."

Trasmus smiled at them as they shook hands and helping them up. "Thanks. But we gotta be on our way before someone else finds the gongs."

Jared tossed them their two torches as him and Trasmus progressed on down the long corridor.

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"Did you see that explosion of smoke?" Emma asked her twin sister as they stuck to the shadows of the walls not too far from where they had witnessed the smoke bomb go off.

"Of course I did," Amber replied sarcastically. "More importantly, I thought I heard Jared and his partner."

Emma nodded and the two progressed on to where the smoke was clearing. They noticed there were two people sitting against the wall with torches.

'Those can't be them, can they?' Amber thought as her and her sister ran toward the two people.

"Jared, Trasmus?" Emma asked cautiously as Amber and her approached them.

"Ah," the one on the left said. "You must be on the same team as the two young men that took us out," he chuckled.

"They took you out?" Amber asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

"We're no longer in the race. One with the red clothes stole our gun after stunning us and shot us," the guy on the right said as he pointed to his chest where the red paint was. "I gotta hand it to them, they really know what their doing."

"You should go catch up with them. One looks like he could use some help with his giggi bite. They're not too far ahead. They took a left down that freaking long hallway," his partner said.

"Thanks, and good luck," Amber said.

One of them laughed. "Girl, we're going to be fine. Just make sure you go with a torch lit," he said seriously.

"Will do," Emma answered as she gave a nod.

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"So," Trasmus said as they made their way through the gargantuan maze. "Wanna tell me about your girlfriend?"

"Erm," Jared strangled out as he coughed in surprise. "Girlfriend? What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, don't try to hide it from your old friend, bro," Trasmus laughed as he looked at his partner. "You and that Amber girl have something going on and I wanna know what."

"Screw you," Jared snapped, causing Trasmus to chuckle.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"What's it matter to ya, anyways?" Jared questioned him.

Trasmus shrugged. "I can just tell there's something between you two."

Jared sighed and caved in. "Yeah, there kind of is. She understands me and doesn't see me as son of the Corrupt King of Hunters."

Trasmus looked at him incredulously. "Your father earned that title?"

Jared nodded.

"Sounds awesome, except for the, you know, _corrupt_ part."

"Exactly. All because of one choice..." Jared said sadly.

"Alright, alright, let's not go into that. But back to Amber," Trasmus said kindly, bringing a small smile to Jared's face. "You're in love, aren't you?"

"No, not love. Love takes a lot to happen. But she's definitely a girl I'd like to date."

"Understandable," Trasmus nodded. "Well, after we get you looking all pretty again, let's get you and her together."

"I can do it by myself," Jared said.

"You probably could, but I kind of have a crush on her sister, too. So make it a double date," Trasmus said with a wink.

"Don't ever wink at me again, you creeper," Jared laughed.

"I'm with Jared on that one..."

The two boys jumped and spun around, Jared swinging the torch as he went. The flaming stick nearly connected with Amber's head, but she luckily dodged and grabbed Jared's wrist.

Emma and Trasmus chuckled at the show. "Jared, Amber might not look like much, but she could take you," Emma laughed.

Jared blushed and Amber released him. "Sorry," she apologized, also blushing. "Swift reflexes..."

"It's fine," Jared laughed.

"Anyways," Emma said. "If you two were planning on asking us out on a date..." she trailed off not sure what to say.

"We'd love to," Amber said with a smile, looking at Jared and Trasmus. Emma nodded in approval, smiling warmly.

"Alright, sweet," Trasmus said proudly.

"I'm all for it, but can we please focus on this after we're done down here?" Jared asked them as he looked up at the cavern ceiling, looking for a hole. "It's hard to keep track of time down here and if you'll remember, we got down here about an hour and a half after dinner..."

"Jared's right," Emma nodded. "We need to keep moving until we win this thing."

"Want to split up or travel together?" Amber asked the group.

"I think we should stick together. Might as well, since we already found each other," Jared reasoned. He turned and kept on progressing through the labyrinth.

Emma and Trasmus kept talking throughout the maze, talking of more or less random subjects. Amber and Jared were ahead of them, taking this challenge a bit more serious. They'd been wandering for about a half hour since they'd met up with each other.

"We've already been this way," Amber sighed. "I'm telling you, we're lost."

Jared sighed at turned to her. "No, we haven't been this way. That's what they want us to think," he said cooly. "I've been keeping track our turns. Yes, the surroundings are the same, but this portion of the maze is the exact same as the one we visited about ten minutes ago, which is why you think we've been here before."

"I get it... Not really," she said sarcastically.

"Look," Jared said. "The ceiling of the cave is different. We were a few hundred yards from being underneath the giant torch. But now, we're about fifty yards away."

"So what are you thinking?" Amber asked him.

Jared smirked. "I'm thinking we're heading the way we're supposed to. I'm assuming those gongs are right under the giant torch. The architects of this maze made this copied area to throw people off," he said as he stared up at the torch.

"Ohhhh," Amber said as she understood what he was saying. "So you mean that bright room ahead are the gongs?" she asked as she pointed towards a lighter area.

Jared looked down back to where she was pointing. "Yeah, that's probably it, actually," he told her.

"Hey, guys...?" Jared heard Trasmus say in a frightened voice from behind them.

"What is it, Tras?" Amber asked, as they kept walking forward.

"We have a pretty big problem..." Trasmus said as he ran forward with Emma and got their attention. "Up there!"

Jared and Amber looked up towards the roof of the cave. It was hard to see at first, but, underneath the giant torch, there was something big...and it was moving. It hung by it's tail, which was suctioned onto the bottom of the giant torch.

"Trasmus... What is that?" Amber asked her friend in a hushed voice.

The gigginox dropped and landed on the ground in front of the four friends, separating them from their goal. It's breath stunk like rotten flesh and dried blood. It's amphibious-like skin oozed a pale slime, making it's whole body slippery and shiny.

Trasmus was shaking a bit and had a wild, scared look in his eye. "That's a gigginox... Which explains why there's tons of giggi down here..." he told her.

The gigginox let loose a coarse roar, making the whole cave echo with the frightening sound.

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Gerald and Mindy looked at each other with shocked eyes as they heard the Roar of the Nox fill their ears.

"You don't think..." Mindy trailed off.

Gerald gave her a serious look. "I do. A gigginox is down here with us and it's found food."

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Amber screamed as she watched Jared get swept away from her side and slammed into the wall. His body fell limp as it made contact with it, and a loud snap could be heard.

"Emma and Amber! Run past that nox and _hit that red gong_! I'll grab Jared!" Trasmus yelled as their plan was set into action.

Emma grabbed her sister's hand and skidded underneath the gigginox's wing, clearing the foul beast. They bolted for the light at the end of the hall, but stopped and waited for Trasmus and Jared.

"Hey! Ugly!" Trasmus yelled, getting the monster's attention. Trasmus pulled out his torch and threw it at the gigginox's head. Trasmus used the small chance to dash for his friend's body and charge for the two girls. "_Go!_" he yelled at them.

The gigginox quickly turned around and spat a purple glob at the wall behind them. A cloud of poisonous gas surrounded the hunters as they fell to the ground, gasping for breath. The death wyvern started charging for them but had it's life instantly ended when two spears from a ballista cannon were pierced into it's head.

Trasmus' vision began fading quickly and he felt himself slump over onto the ground, with Amber and Emma doing the same. He heard distant yells before feeling a few hands on his body.

Then there was black.

* * *

Yar har! So yeah... I feel _terrible _about not uploading this sooner... I've had not only _this_ chapter, the next chapter, and half of the next one written, for about 4 months now... Basically, I lost a good chunk of this chapter due to my phone being buggy (I write a lot of my stuff on my phone when I have spare time) and that made me lose a _lot _of momentum.

Either way, I will upload the next chapter a week _after_ this has received it's first review. I look forward to hearing from you all again.

Also, I hope this 7,798 word chapter makes you guys take it a little easier on me after not posting for about 6 months... SORRY!


	5. 5: Aftermath

**FireLilli:**Ha ha well surprise. I updated just for you.

**Meteorthunder3:**Hm. You bring up a good suggestion. Although I won't include it in the story, I will include a link at the ending notes for this chapter. That will show the weapons for the game. And, if you explore the site, you should easily find what the armors and monsters look like, as well. =) Also, I appreciate the compliment.

**Los McWyvern:** Are you serious? It's been a freaking year and a half? No way. ._. Why does time go so _fast_? I'm losing my childhood years! No! T.T Anyways. Lol yes, I'm going to be updating more frequently. I _really_regret not updating this sooner... =/ But yeah, new chapters are coming soon. =D Also, glad to see you no longer have an anonymous username. =3

**PecoLudroth:** Ha ha I really appreciate your review. It is one of the more meaningful and energetic ones that I've received. Yeah, I am going to introduce the HR and their tiers. How I'm going to _exactly_do the HR, though? I have yet to figure that out...

Ow. I just bit my lip and my teeth went pretty deep... -_- Don't you hate it when that happens? Anyways...

Meteorthunder3 brought up a good view point that I have never considered. You see, I have always written my fanfictions assuming that every reader has played the game and has considerable knowledge of everything in it. However, he made me realize that not everyone reading this fic has played Tri. So if there are any of you readers that have stayed under the review radar, which I know there are, don't be afraid to ask questions like Meteor did.

Oh yeah! So I went hunting with FireLilli this week. It was just us two and went on a high Aggy kill quest. I think we ended up breaking every part of it? I can't remember. But yeah, it was fun. She got cheap shotted by it within the first minute of her entering the area - made me have a good laugh, knowing we've all had moments like those. Sadly, we only had time for one quest, since I had to go do homework. I look forward to hunting with you again, FireLilli!

Anyways. Here's the fourth chapter for you all.

* * *

_Last Chapter: The two teams are introduced to their new team members. Trasmus goes with Jared's group, who is an old childhood friend of his. Tyson goes with Amber's group. Gerald and Mindy teach the two teams about a few basic items before having them go into a giant maze underneath Loc Lac city. Jared and Trasmus meet up with Amber and Emma in the maze and are attacked by a Gigginox._

* * *

Thrill of the Hunt

* * *

Chapter 5: Aftermath

* * *

Jared - Age 16

Trasmus - Age 17

Amber - Age 16

Emma - Age 16

* * *

Jared's eyes opened. He inhaled through his mouth and pain struck his side. His right hand tried fling to clutch the point where it hurt.

But it stayed where it was. Jared turned his head to look at his arm. It was in a sling resting slightly above the bed he was laying in.

Jared was confused... He couldn't remember much of what happened down in the maze and it hurt trying to remember it.

The teen looked around. He was in a room that looked to be pretty clean, considering how sandy and dusty Loc Lac was. The room looked to be made of sandstone, like the rest of the structures in Loc Lac. There were windows where Jared could see the Council Tower shining as a beacon in the night to the returning Sandskiffs.

There were other beds in the room, ten beds total. It looked like there were three other beds filled, but Jared didn't know who occupied them.

Jared sighed as he closed his eyes to attempt to fall asleep again.

"Well, wonder what they're going to do about our hunting training now. And especially with the teams," a voice said.

Jared propped himself up on his good arm to look around the room. "Huh? Trasmus? That you?"

There was a little chuckle. "Yeah, it's me. How's your arm and side? I saw you get knocked out when that Nox slammed you against the wall."

"Is that what happened? Ehh, I'm okay. Just a little foggy on what happened, obviously. Why are you in here?"

"Not just me, bro... Emma and Amber are in here, too. That Gigginox spat some poison gas out at us as soon as we picked you up, ran for the gong and ended the trial," Trasmus told him.

"So let's see... We won...but got our butts beat in return. I have a broken arm and a broken rib, and you three have poison in your systems."

"Pretty much," Trasmus nodded. "But the doctors were saying we couldn't leave the infirmary for another half week. They're putting some Immunizers in ya tomorrow to heal you in three days and they're having us eat special food to purge us of the rest of the poison."

"Wow. That sounds...fun?" Jared said sarcastically. "I just want to go out there and finish my training."

"Yeahhh, about that... The teams are ruined."

"What?" Jared was slightly confused and shocked to hear this. "What do you mean ruined?"

"Milo, Tyson, Derek and Ellen had to continue their training. They can't wait for us to get better. So they made those four a new team," Trasmus explained.

"Alright, so what about us? Are we just going to get reassigned to new teams?" Jared said, a little angry of he whole ordeal.

"No, you're over-thinking it. They're just putting Amber and Emma with us to form a team. It shouldn't be too bad. I'm not worried."

"Alright... Well, I don't know 'bout you, but I'm honestly exhausted. So I'm going to bed. See ya in the morning, if you're still alive," Jared said jokingly.

"Ha-ha, yeah, you, too, buddy. Now shut up," Trasmus joked back with a fake laugh.

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The next day wasn't too interesting. The doctors just came in the morning with some syringes with a pale yellow fluid in them. They told Jared it was just the Immunizers and he'd need another two tomorrow.

The Immunizers didn't sting as they entered Jared's arm and ribs. The liquid just seemed to go in and slowly solidify onto the bones. It felt good.

"All those Immunizers will do is cause a cellular reaction. It will only cause new bone to grow where the gap in the broken bone is," the nurse said. "You're free to walk around today, if you want. But wear a sling and go slow. If it makes you feel better, just call for a nurse and we'll bring you a wheelchair."

The woman walked off before Jared could say anything. At least he was feeling better, and fast.

Jared stood up out of the infirmary bed and walked over to his three friends. They were eating salads which had a tiny bit of a purple tint to all of the food.

"Well that looks...delicious?" Jared said as he looked at the food.

"Meh, it's only antidote. Not really any taste different to the food. Just the same, actually," Emma said.

"So," Trasmus said, getting everyone's attention. "Let's discuss how we're going to do this team. Everyone list the weapons you can use. I can use Great Sword, Sword and Shield, Longsword, Lance and Hammer."

"I can do everything but Hammer and Lance, pretty much," Jared stated. "Amber? You?"

The girl put down her food for a minute to talk. "I got Bowgun, Sword and Shield and Hammer."

"You look a little small to use a Hammer, are you sure?" Jared joked with her. She only stuck her tongue out at him as response.

"If you two are done," Emma teased. "I use Lance, Longsword, Sword and Shield, Great Sword and Switch Axe."

"Alright, looks like we've got nothing to worry about. We're all taken care of with weapon coverage," Jared said.

"I was just checking. Better to make sure we can tackle the monster rather than being unprepared," Trasmus pointed out.

"Soooooo we still up for that little double date we planned on in the Maze, orrr what?" Amber asked, causing everyone to laugh.

"Yeah, I'm still planning on it. But after we get out of this little nursing home," Jared said.

"Settle down, kiddies," Gerald's voice said behind them. Jared moved out of the way so Gerald could get in on the conversation. "Time to figure out your little situation. Each of your teams is now two people short."

"Already did, sir," Jared told him.

"Oh did you, now?" Gerald raised an eye and looked at Trasmus. The teen just acted oblivious to Gerald's look.

Emma, Amber and Jared noticed Gerald staring at Trasmus. He snapped under the pressure. "Okay, okay, I told them already. But it's not like it matters. Secrets are bad anyways..." he pouted.

"No, it doesn't matter much. I just would appreciate if I could trust someone around here with information from the Hunter Council."

"Wait, the Hunter Council handled our team reassignment?" Trasmus asked, quite interested with the subject.

Gerald did a face-palm. "They handle everything when it comes to putting teams together and handling hunters in question."

"Alright, I get it. ... Can we stop making fun of me, now?" Trasmus whined.

"For now," Gerald said. "Anyways. You four resume training tomorrow evening."

They all made little gasps of confusion when they heard this new bit of information.

"The nurses said that we'd be in here for at least four days. Why are you taking us out early?" Trasmus asked.

"Those nurses don't rule over what the doctors say to me. You need to be prepared to go on a special little quest by four o'clock tomorrow. You'll only need your leather sets," he said.

The four friends nodded. "See you then, Gerald," Emma said politely.

* * *

So I'm going to be completely honest... I did not enjoy writing this chapter. I knew it wouldn't be a very good one from the beginning, since it's only talking and what not to move the story from point A to point B. Ah well.

Tell me what you guys think of it or of the entire fic so far in the reviews. Seriously, those little babies make us writers want to write for you guys. I can't stress that enough. So yeah. REVIEW!

P.S. As promised, here is the link for you, Meteorthunder3, to go to find everything about Tri. This is the link to just the weapons, but I'm sure you can find your way to see the monsters and armors. =)

P.S.S. Due to how stupid is, they won't let me attach links to most websites. So just replace any place that says "[DOT]" with a "." and you'll get there.

monsterhunter[DOT]wikia[DOT]com/wiki/MH3:_Weapons**  
**


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